After passing the first hurdle of meeting Lin Dan Khan, the Ming Dynasty envoy settled in temporarily.
When Zheng Haizhu was still planning the trip to Chahar with Xu San and Chang Zhongxin in Xuanda University, he took into account the prediction of the rations for the accompanying Sichuan army.
Xu San's men used money in Jizhou in advance to buy a lot of "cake skewers" that Qi Jiguang had taught people in Jizhou to make. The Sichuan troops who went out to patrol the border took half a month's supply with them. After the Battle of Luanhe, the few hundred Sichuan troops who followed Ma Xianglin to Chahar were given pancake rations for about a month.
The Chang family of Shanxi merchants produced salt-vinegar cloth and dried meat.
Salt and vinegar cloth is the most common military side food. The cloth is soaked in rice vinegar with salt, dried and folded. When the soldiers eat dry food, they cut a small piece of salt and vinegar cloth with a knife and soak it in water, which makes it taste like a bowl. The soup not only adds salt, but also makes the wheat cakes and corn cakes that are so hard that they can knock out teeth no longer so difficult to swallow.
In addition, Su Tai rewarded Ma Xianglin's command with fifty sheep in order to thank the Ming army for teaching Zhenglan Banner a lesson.
In this way, the Ming Dynasty mission could stay in Chahanhot until the end of the first month of the new year, and Zheng Haizhu would have enough time to get to know the Chahar Department.
Among the three great blessings of Lin Dan Khan, currently only Sutai, who is literate and has given birth to the Khan's eldest son, is accompanying him. The other two great blessings, who also enjoy the title of "Kedun", are with their troops and subordinate officials. , running their respective Orduo fiefdoms.
After hearing Zheng Haizhu talk about his relationship with the Ye He tribe woman, Su Tai's attitude became more friendly, which was very consistent with "the enemy of my enemy is my friend".
Su Tai had a language advantage, and Mongolia did not restrict women like the Central Plains. Lin Danhan was very excited about the newly opened tea and horse trade route, so he ordered Su Tai to discuss matters directly with Zheng Haizhu. After agreeing on the terms of both parties, they would then issue letters of credence. He was brought back to the capital by the Ming Dynasty.
In fact, the core of this first tentative cooperation outside the annual silver reward system is three points: sovereignty, military support, and trade route interests.
Talking about money is a relatively easy entry point, so Zheng Haizhu proposed to Su Tai that he first discuss the benefits of trade routes.
Su Tai's efficiency was indeed astonishing. A few days later, when Zheng Haizhu came to Su Tai's tent, there were already several ministers who came from Su Tai's Orduo fiefdom in the hall.
There are men and women, most of them are officials in charge of taxation. They still use the name of Song and Yuan Dynasties - "Xuan Ke Ti Ju".
According to several lecturers, Chahar currently only levies residence tax on merchants, as it did during the Yuan Dynasty, and does not levy overtax.
Roughly similar, only a transaction tax is levied, unlike the Daming Canal Chaoguan and Fujian-Guangdong Songjiang, which levy transit "travel money" or tariffs.
After Zheng Haizhu heard this, he said to Su Tai: "Fujin, in order to attract more merchants to take this line, the residence tax can be changed from thirty taxes per one to forty taxes per one in the first two years. But when Chahar goes to Mobei In the direction of the Mongolian tribes, checkpoints can be set up, such as our Yuegang and Songjiang Customs in the Ming Dynasty, to collect overdue taxes. For example, in the Song and Yuan Dynasties, there was an yamen called the Shipping Department to collect "draw points". One in fifteen for coarse-colored goods, Take one out of ten fine-colored goods. Or be more detailed and list various items, such as how much black brick tea, how much green leaf tea, how much black tea, how much fur and horses, how much wood and porcelain, etc."
A tax girl Tiju listened attentively and couldn't help but ask: "The grassland is so vast, what if the caravan can bypass those checkpoints?"
Zheng Haizhu said: "Yes, it sounds like it is more difficult to collect overtax than residence tax. In fact, it is not. The ultimate goal of merchants is to sell things smoothly and safely, so they will definitely gather in the mutual market. No matter they want to enter In the mutual market in Chahar, or in the mutual market in Daning Town, you must first hand over the customs duties certificate, otherwise no transaction will be allowed."
These Mongolians who collect taxes have far more economical minds than their compatriots who herd horses and sheep or guard public security.
Sure enough, another tax official cautiously and a little excitedly said to Su Tai: "Fujin, if this trade road prospers, there will be more and more small traders from all directions. We, Orduo, can make usury loans give them."
Usury, similar to loan sharking, and the ticket business that Zheng Haizhu planned to let the Chang family start in advance were completely two different models.
But at this moment, loan sharking has become the topic of conversation.
Zheng Haizhu then praised: "This businessman is very insightful and needs capital. But with the capital, there is still the problem of how to transport money. For example, tea, silk cloth, porcelain, etc., can easily cost thousands of taels of silver. , merchants like to travel together, and the border troops cannot protect them all the way. Therefore, we Ming people can jointly issue invoices with Fujin."
After that, she briefly explained to Su Tai and the Mongolian tax collector what "exchange business" was, using a few teacups as an example.
Su Tai was smarter than the tax collectors in his own fiefdom. After thinking for a moment, he said to Zheng Haizhu: "What you are talking about seems to be better than usury. The usury may never come back, but this Bill number, if a merchant deposits money in Daning Town and comes to me to withdraw it from Chahar, the money in Daning Town will be the guaranteed bank."
"Fu Jin Huixin is very wise, that's exactly what happened. Besides," Zheng Haizhu said bluntly, "Fu Jin's bank account jointly with Mr. Chang should be the first one, but other merchants can also be allowed to open the bank account. At worst, every time I asked them to collect a financial supervision tax at the end of the year. Isn’t it another income?”
To Su Tai, "financial supervision", like the words "ticket number" and "tariff", were unheard of, but after being explained by the Ming Dynasty woman in front of him, he was able to understand and understand them. Bring wealth to yourself and your husband.
Su Tai became more and more happy as they talked, and asked Zheng Haizhu to write down the results of the talks in Ming Mandarin, and then ordered several tax promotions to be negotiated into a suitable Mongolian version, and another Mongolian version was written.
Later, the queen of Chahar, the envoy of the Ming Dynasty, and the two women discussed which sections of the trade route from south to north belonged to the sovereignty of the Ming Dynasty and which sections belonged to Chahar's sovereignty. How should the two countries station their troops? They had to discuss matters on the sand table in the tent one by one when they encountered border quarrels, and when they encountered the invasion and disturbance of the Manchu Tatars, they had to provide mutual aid and support.
After talking like this for a long time, after the tax collectors left one by one, Zheng Haizhu asked Su Tai respectfully with a little doubt: "Fu Jin, why didn't you see He Zhuo today? I also promised her to teach her how to use us. The needlework of Nanzhili is used to sew chinchilla skin."
Su Tai said in an easy-going manner: "I think she is sick after a long journey. She is resting in the temple on the mountain. The medical officer has checked her. She is fine. She will be fine after a few days of rest."
Zheng Haizhu was confused.
She already knew that He Zhuo, as Su Tai's most trusted maid, had her own tent in Chahar. When she saw it from a distance a few days ago, the tent was taller and more gorgeous than the guest tent.
In this season of ice and snow, you have to recuperate from illness. If you can’t live in such a warm dome, why not live in a Huangjiao temple on the mountain?
